avid

Good tip George. This is especially important when the stripers are running at stickmarsh.

7 1/4 just last week on a ratLtrap. but you shoulda seen the one that got away.

Unless it's a potential new Personal best for me, I just watch em jump. If the purpose of me being out on the water is to have fun, then why not watch em jump? I may even encourage it. But if it's a biggun that may top 8 lbs. I'll hold that rod tip down, and if I see it's coming up to the surface I'll try to hold em down with rod torque. Sometimes it works, sometimes it don't, but if you really GOTTA land that fish, then doing everything you can to prevent jumping is a good idea.

Patience. you'll get em.

Well done Sir Redline. Getting a big one from the bank is always great fun.

Your desire to protect the resource is admirable. but you need to not take it so hard. Fishing is a blood sport. That means there WILL be blood. Keep a conservation mind set fer sure, but you gotta know that this WILL happen again. Too bad you couldn't honor the fish by eating him, but the law must be obeyed. You have a good heart, don't be so hard on yourself. avid. P.S. I saw the photo. It was a pleasure to see how joyful you were. Don't let an unintended consequence ruin your day.

outstanding. Ya gotta love a 50 fish day.

The situation I told about had nothing to do with being ridiculed for using lures instead of bait,, but was all about catch and release. In New York, especially Long Island, the fishing is mostly saltwater. It's only within the last 10 or 15 years that salty anglers have begun to even consider c&r. It's like against their religion to throw back a fish, so of course they carry it over to fresh water as well. The story I told happened in the early 80's at Belmont Lake State Park in Babylon. I honestly think that the guy did intend to keep the fish for food. He did look kinda poor, but as he was walking away with the fish someone stopped him to admire it and he just couldn't resist all the praise, so he ran with it. It was his 15 minutes. It was summer and I think that by the time he got to the exit, the bass was pretty foul, so he trashed it. Mackerel season is the best time to see gross examples of wasting the fish resource. It's common to see guys come home with burlap bags full of mackerel...I'm talking 40 50 lbs or more. There's no way they ever get to cleaning that many fish and so they end up in the trash. I'll bet it's still happening.

a very productive and very fun way to fish these lures is like a snake. The color you chose is great for this. I cast them out on a spinning rod, and twitch the rod tip so the lure "snakes" it's way back to the boat. It works really well in the back of coves. When you draw a strike they really murder it. great fun ,...enjoy.

try loosening your drag. keep the rod tip pointed down. Don't want that bass to jump.

I've got a ton of lures that haven't been used in years. I now carry one utility tray that has about 30 hardbaits in it, and a soft bag with a dozen or so bags of soft plastics in it. If I loose or damage a lure, I go to the reserves. I'm catching as many fish as ever.

wow. Molloch you been mugged Few things make a bass angler happier than getting free baits, especially good baits that catch bass. seems pretty clear to me that the hype will work for a little while but if bassers ain't catchin on what your selling the word gets out pretty quick which reminds me... whatever happened to the snake doctor?????

I can understand why you gave him the bass. In similar situations I have done both, that is one time I might give the person the bass, whereas other times I have told them that I am c&r, and explain a little conservation. either way it just annoys me to have people ask me for the fish. One time I had a guy make a big deal about "throwing food away while some people are hungry" blah blah blah....anyway I gave him the fish and watched him spend the next half hour walking around and showing it to people ...bragging about the big fish he caught. Then when I finally left I saw it sitting on top of a garbage pail. I never gave any away for a looooooooooooong time after that.

Better that it was you who went in and not your son. LOL about the baptism by immersion ....... ;D good stuff there

Man, even the brim you catch are big. Well done Mr. Chris.

You showed up. You scored big time. You be a winner!

It was hot on the farm yesterday. I mean H-O-T. And the fishing action wasn't too bad either. Steve and I launched at 9 am and the action was spotty but steady. What I mean by that is we catch a couple from one spot, then it would go dead so we'd move to another and catch one or two more, then nothing, and so on pretty much the whole day. We ended up with 24 with the two biggest going 5lbs 8 oz's and 7 lbs 4 oz's. It's by golly summer in florida so bring your sunscreen and plenty of water. Oh. we got a report from Don Willis who calls himself WWF for worlds worst fisherman that he caught an 11+ pounder on a swim senko yesterday. There's something about fishing in a place where you know any cast can result in a double digit that makes each cast just a little more exciting.

Keep at it. Getting to know the lake is half the battle. You'll git em.

Ahhh,,,,,the young. Well done son. Glad you had a fun, productive, and safe day. I got a report from a friend that the late afternoon wind yesterday (Saturday) gusted to 40 mph, with whitecaps on the water making it difficult for even the 200 HP bassboats to get back without taking a beating. Funny how the gators like those rattling baits eh?

When fishing the bank I make my first cast far back from the water edge. I like to fish the shallow areas first. Then I will probe more into the middle. Practically all of my shore bound fishing is done with topwaters.

Practically everything we eat is contaminated with something or other. Beef is injected with hormones, fruit trees and vegetables are sprayed with insect poison, even deep sea fish have mercury, sometimes very high amounts. It's the nature of life these days I'm afraid.

Snook, redfish, and bass can all live in brackish water. I have caught all three on the same outing using the same lures. It's not common, but I have done it a couple of times.

sounds great. I love snook fishing. Great fighters, great eating But alas the season on the treasure coast is closed. be a couple of months before I can go out for em again.

downloaded chrome. It is remembering my log in info and is faster than i.e. but it is still a work in progress.....how I miss my firefox. :'(